Criminal Proceedings Initiated Against 'Serj's Vacho', His Wife and Director of Their 'Yans' Complex

On November 14 and 16, under the supervision of the prosecutor, criminal proceedings have been initiated against the former head of the security service of the third President of Armenia, V.G., his wife, and the director of their 'Yans' restaurant complex for extortion through threats of violence in particularly large amounts. This is in accordance with Article 182, part 3, point 2 of the Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003, which corresponds to Article 258, part 3, point 3 of the current Criminal Code.

Based on the initiated public criminal proceedings, the investigator has charged the three defendants, and a preventive measure of prohibition of absconding has been applied to them. The investigation is ongoing in case number 59103718 within the Investigative Committee's Main Department for Investigating Crimes Against Property. Prosecutorial supervision is being exercised with respect to the conduct of procedural and other evidence-gathering activities to clarify the circumstances of the case.

Reminder: Since October 1, 2012, S.K. has worked as the director of the 'Yans' restaurant complex owned by V.G. and his wife, R.B. The chief accountant of the complex has been S.A.

In early June 2017, S.K. learned from employees about certain sums of money received from clients that had not been deposited into the restaurant's cash register by S.A., and informed V.G. and R.B. about this. They decided to extort 40 million drams from the accountant through threats of violence.

In order to implement the criminal intention during the same period, S.K., V.G., and R.B. demanded 40 million drams, mentioning V.G.'s position as the head of the security service of the third President of Armenia, and threatened harm to the life and health of the accountant and his son if the demand was not met.

As a result of the demand accompanied by threats of violence, S.A. was forced to pawn his gold jewelry, borrow money from relatives, and sell his apartment, ultimately transferring the demanded total of 40 million drams through relatives during June to September 2017.